Eco Team
Two children from each year group make up our Eco Team. Together, they are involved in a variety of projects on a daily basis to improve the local environment. We are very proud to have achieved our Silver Eco Award in July 2019!
Our members are -
Composting experts from Warwickshire County Council led a whole school assembly to inform everyone of the benefits of composting in our school and home environments. Following this, our visitors held a workshop for the Eco Team and advised us how to launch our own composting initiative in school. The team then cleaned out the compost bins and began a collection of fruit waste at morning break time. The team set up a rota to work in pairs continuing this compost collection on a daily basis.
Reducing Single-Use Plastic
We carried out a survey in our tuck shop to find out how many single-use plastic cups were used each day. Using this data, Year 6 then worked out how many plastic cups would be used throughout a whole school year.
The Eco Team researched and ordered compostable cups made from corn starch, which could be used in the tuck shop instead, as they are more environmentally friendly. Cara also suggested that small paper bags could be used instead of cups to serve dry cereal. Paper bags were then bought and used as they are more environmentally friendly.
Litter Picking
The whole school has taken part in the annual, national litter picking project, The Great British Spring Clean within the local environment.
The Eco Team set up a daily litter picking rota during lunch time, when the children work in pairs to ensure that our school environment is litter free.
Recycling of Batteries
The Eco Team has signed up to take part in the Duracell battery recycling scheme. We have organised the collection of batteries in each class. The Eco Team has set up a rota to work in pairs counting the batteries recycled each month. Two members of the Eco Team then present a certificate in our celebration assembly, to the class, which collects the most batteries. They also inform the school how many batteries have been rescued from going to landfill, which could have caused damage to our environment.
Bee Keeping Project
AIM Education has partnered with Woodside Eco Team to pilot Bee Planet, a new bee keeping programme. The project, launched by AIM Education in a whole school assembly in January 2020, provides the children with the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of how important bees are to our environment. The project involves a variety of different learning experiences and each year group is invited to take part in one or more of the activities. The project focuses around a new bee hive, built and decorated by the children. When the hive is up and running the children will have video updates to see how the bees are progressing in their new home. There will hopefully also be the opportunity for some children to visit the hive on site locally.
During the course of the year, children will learn about:
¨ building a hive in woodwork
¨ species of bees
¨ queen bees and worker bees
¨ the life cycle of bees
¨ making a bug house for the school grounds
¨ flowers and pollination
¨ making seed bombs
¨ how honey is made in a hive and tasting it
¨ cooking with honey
At the beginning of the project all children had the opportunity to take part in a competition to create a design to decorate the new Woodside hive. While Year 6 planned their designs, Lorna Ferguson of AIM Education, worked with the children answering their questions as they handled bee keeping equipment and examined the intricate panels from inside a hive. Some children were also delighted to have the opportunity to dress up in a bee keeper’s suit.
Year 4 enjoyed a woodwork session constructing the bee hive, prior to its decoration by the children’s artwork.
Winning designs were chosen from every year group to decorate each of the hive’s twelve panels. Those who created the fabulous winning designs were presented with environmentally friendly prizes in an Eco Assembly in March, updating the children on developments in the project.